The Hospitality of Lydia based on Acts 16:9-15

Today is my Mom’s and my first Mother’s Day with Grace. And it is the first Mother’s Day in many years that Mom and I are spending Mother’s Day together. It has been an even longer time since our family has had three generations of females together on Mother’s Day. But when I was a child, Mom and I spent several Mother’s Days with Grandma.

Grace’s middle name is Frances, after my Mom’s mother. Some of you have heard me mention my Grandmother, Frances Gertrude Edmands Wright who grew up in Somerville and married a Methodist minister. We could tell you many stories about Grandma, some of them very funny. But I’ve been thinking mostly this week about her gift of hospitality since this is the theme of worship today.

Grandma loved to have guests to her home. A little like Hyacinth Bucket (Bouquet) in Keeping Up Appearances, Grandma was always inviting people into her home for something to eat. Now Grandma wasn’t much of a cook, but she would do her best to make elegant meals. Often these were rounded off by New England puddings; Indian, Suit and Grapenut being most common. Her favorite summertime cuisine for guests seemed to be tomato aspic and salmon loaf. We hope her guests liked this menu better than we did! She would set the table with her good china, polish the silver and prepare a little entertainment for after the meal. Grandma let her guests know she was delighted to see them when they arrived. What distinguished Grandma from Hyacinth is that her gift of hospitality went along with her gift of story telling and her gift of listening to the stories of her guests, so that they truly felt cherished and welcome. Before they left, Grandma offered her visitors her Guest Book, and asked that they write a little something in it. Now and then as she aged, she could pull it out and remember the many happy times when she had company in her home. Grandma’s gift of hospitality was a blessing, not only to her guest, but also to herself.

Hospitality is lifted up in scripture as a virtue. Abraham and Sarah first heard the long awaited news that they would become parents while they were tending to three unexpected visitors who came to supper. A widow who was facing starvation with her son, offered hospitality to Elijah and her containers of meal and oil lasted until the famine was over. Jesus always seemed to be visiting people in their homes, or inviting them to dinner and he urged his disciples to welcome the stranger as if they were welcoming him. Paul exhorted the Roman church to “extend hospitality to strangers.” In his list of qualities expected of a bishop, Paul includes hospitality in both 1st Timothy and Titus. And the first letter of Peter says, “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” Hospitality combines several fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians; love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity and gentleness all come into play with true hospitality. It is a key ingredient to the Christian faith. We can see two reasons why when we turn to today’s scripture.

First, hospitality is one major vehicle for the good news of Jesus Christ to spread. In fact all through Acts we see that the Apostles depended upon hospitality of the communities they visited as they brought the Good News of Jesus to them. They continued to follow Jesus’ directions found in Luke 10, “Whatever house you enter first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide.”

Paul took three missionary journeys to spread the gospel and stayed in people’s homes all along the way. The first journey was focused on Asia Minor, an area we call Turkey today where some welcomed him and started small churches. As he started out on his second journey Paul thought he would return to these churches and see how they were doing. But late at night he heard the Spirit of Jesus, in the form of a Macedonian, inviting him to move beyond his comfort zone, into Europe. Being convinced that God was calling them Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke crossed the Aegean Sea to Macedonia. As was their practice, they first looked for a community of Jews in Philippi, for the Jews of the Diaspora, such as Tabitha, were more likely to welcome fellow Jews. But the Jews in the distant land of Philippi were such a minority that it took a few days even to find it. Finally they took a walk to the river outside the city gate, and there they found the tiny congregation, perhaps not even big enough to make up a quorum of ten men. They may have been few, but their welcome was notable. Lydia welcomed the Apostles into her community and into her home and this led not only to her own baptism, but to the baptism of her whole household and the beginnings of the church in Philippi.

While these stories show lead us to believe that it is easier to spread the gospel to non-Christians who practice hospitality, other scripture reminds us that the church also grows when Christians are hospitable. Just a few weeks ago Kevin reminded us about the daring hospitality of Ananias when the recently blinded and repentant Saul needed to be healed and trained up in the way of Jesus. Without Ananias’ welcome Paul’s conversion might never have been completed and he might not have gone on to invite so many others to follow Jesus. Recently American Christians are reawakening to the importance of hospitality in church growth. If you type the words “hospitality” and “evangelism” on Amazon’s web site you will find 35 titles including: Welcoming the Stranger, Widening the Welcome of your Church; Fireweed Evangelism: Christian Hospitality in a Multi-Faith World; God’s Welcome: Hospitality for a God-Hungry World.

In Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations Robert Schnase gives an example of radical hospitality. He tells of a young mother who visited a small congregation of mostly older adults one Sunday. As the pastor was getting to know her, this mom expressed feeling self-conscious whenever her baby started to fuss during worship. So the pastor
met with the congregation’s leaders and they decided that they valued having young people so highly that they had to do something to ease the discomfort. To show support for the young mom, they bought a comfortable, well-padded rocking chair and placed it just behind the last pew of the sanctuary. Word got around, and soon they had to have two more rocking chairs to accommodate the moms who found this congregation to be the friendliest around!
As a result the congregation has grown. “The secret has been an active hospitality that has become contagious throughout the congregation.”

Many visitors comment that we have a friendly congregation. But there still might be some steps we could take to improve our hospitality. For example, have you looked at the signs on our parking lot? They warn people of trespassing which may result in towing and fines and nothing says that the lot belongs to us. When I was arranging for guest preachers I had to let them know to ignore the signs, and assure them they were welcome to park there. We could do something to improve the welcome we give to any strangers driving to worship with us for the first time. What else can you think of that we could do to make sure that anyone who comes to worship with us is welcome? One practice that goes hand in hand with hospitality is invitation. Lydia not only invited Paul and his friends to her home, she “urged” them and perhaps had to convince them because Luke says that finally she “would take no refusal.”

A second reason that hospitality is a key Christian virtue may surprise us. We generally think of what we do for others when we practice hospitality. But radical hospitality doesn’t only affect the ones we welcome; it can deeply affect us as well. Look at Lydia. She was already part of a congregation. She attended the weekly gathering for prayer with the Jews of Philippi. She had moved to Philippi some years ago from Asia Minor, and she must have been a person of means because she ran her own business and was the head of a household. As a dealer of fabric only worn by the rich and famous of the Roman Empire, she probably rubbed elbows with them on a regular basis. Her life was good and I imagine that she wasn’t yearning for any big transformation. Yet true hospitality requires a posture of openness toward the other which can be life changing. Lydia didn’t just give to the visitors; she received what they had to give too. She listened to their stories. The Bible tells us “the Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what Paul said.” And as she soaked in the good news of Jesus, it moved her so that she was no longer satisfied with her life as it had been, she wanted to be transformed to a follower of Jesus, and she and her household were baptized.

When we truly practice hospitality we open ourselves up to change. My grandparents, and my parents and Uncles and Aunts welcomed many different kinds of people into their homes. I remember meeting people from all over the world, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, India and Ethiopia for the first time in the homes of my family. By their presence our understanding of the world was expanded. Because my family practiced hospitality I knew I could welcome the foreign college students back home with me on the weekends during the summers when I worked at a nearby camp. And because of the friendships we built through hospitality, I was invited to visit some of them when I traveled abroad to their hometowns. As an adult I have carried on the practice of hospitality in my home, volunteering to meet the guest speakers of my Camp Farthest Out at Logan and inviting them to stay with me for a few days before or after camp. Having this special time with them alone, they have listen and talked, offered wise counsel and prayed with me. One very tall fatherly friend from Australia helped me out when I was buying my car, by going with me to the dealer. Our lives can be enriched and blessed our faith can be deepened and God can lead us in new directions through the genuine hospitality we practice.

Hospitality is a wonderful gift from God. It is a tool for bringing about the kingdom of heaven. We can use this gift with joy, and nurture like a plant until it grows like a tree and the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

As we honor our mothers this day, and all the women who, like Lydia, have been generous with their gift of hospitality, let us remember the words from Hebrews that, “thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Imagine! based on Revelation 21:1-6

Imagine the World
In 1971, in the thick of the Vietnam War, which you could say was just part of the dreadfully freighting Cold War, John Lennon wrote and recorded his most beloved song, Imagine. Wikipedia quotes President Jimmy Carter as saying, “In many countries around the world—my wife and I have visited about 125 countries—you hear John Lennon's song ‘Imagine’ used almost equally with national anthems.” The song invites us to imagine a world with no countries; no possessions, no need for greed or hunger, nothing to kill or die for and all the people of the world sharing resources and living in peace.

The picture Lennon painted for us is very similar to many Utopian visions across time and cultures including some of the images written by another John, John of Patmos, a.k.a. John the author of Revelations. At the end of his complex, vividly graphic and often perplexing writing John the Revelator, as some have called him, describes a peaceful world, when the chaos and danger represented by the sea will be no more. Every tear will be wiped away. “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Those who thirst will be given the water of life. The imagination of John the Revelator and the vision of John Lennon have much in common.

As God would have it
Yet even when I was a child John Lennon’s utopia bothered me. For he specifically imagined that there was no heaven and no religions, which seems also to ban the Father, Son and Holy Spirit from the picture.

In contrast the Christian image of John of Patmos places the Trinity at the very center of the picture, and the name of this new and renewed earth is, indeed, heaven. It is the heaven we pray for every time we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” For Christians heaven is where our God lives and reigns in the very midst of us. Verse three says, “See! Look! Behold! the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them; they will be God’s peoples and God himself will be with them.”

It has been common in modern times for people to think that if we just get rid of religion, we could get rid of so many wars that seem to be fought over religion. Yet the church teaches that we can’t know God, or God’s purpose for creation without this book, and without a long tradition of followers of Jesus to guide us. The ancients spoke of the veil hanging between where we live and where God dwells. And Revelation has a vision of this veil being removed. Not only that, we aren’t meant to go “up to heaven” but God is coming “down” to dwell with us.

The peace that will follow is proclaimed in scripture to be the way the Lord intended it from the very first day of creation. “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Psalm 148 adds to this image by urging all of creation to praise God, even sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind…mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars, wild animals and cattle, creeping things and flying birds. All of creation is renewed and invited to return to the main business for which we were created – praising the Lord.

The world as our Lord would have it, the new heaven and the new earth has at its core a calling. A specific call begun with Abraham, carried on with Moses, continued through the dynasty of King David through the reign of Jesus the Messiah it is extended to all peoples of the earth. That call is to live according to God’s rule. The Revelation according to John is an extension of the vision given to Isaiah in chapter 65:17-25

Live into it.
In Revelation, John of Patmos had and gave us a glimpse of God’s new heaven and earth – breaking in on us here and now. Other scriptures add to that picture, and our experience is only enhanced if we can add our imaginations too. St. Francis of Assisi did this by inviting all creatures to sing praises to God. “O brother wind, air, clouds and rain, by which all creatures ye sustain, O praise ye! Alleluia!” Hildegard of Binging, Dante, Michelangelo, Edward Hicks who is famous for his peaceable kingdom, so very many artists’ and authors’ imaginations have been inspired by visions of God’s reign coming to pass in our midst. The words of our Great Thanksgiving prayer before communion, the words of our hymns. Our whole tradition invites us to join in, and imagine what it will be like when God’s will is completely, and totally done on earth as it is in heaven.

Yes, John Lennon – you are a dreamer. And you are not the only one. We Christians can join you, even as we hold on to our faith, and offer our understanding that such peace will come, and the earth as we know it is what will pass away, when God turns our world into heaven.

Jesus encourages us to be playful and imaginative by telling us that unless we become like little children we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. So let us practice our childlike qualities and take some time now to prayerfully engage our imaginations as we dream of the new heaven and new earth for which we yearn. I was once a preschool teacher and I have whipped up some salt and flour clay for you to use. As you imagine our world being transformed as God dwells in our midst shape your vision in the clay. Then bring your creation forward and place it on the table in front of the poster.


Let us pray:
Open our eyes to new possibilities, O God, and through our sacred imaginings, help us catch a glimpse of how life can be for us. May we be people who are open to your presence – even when your presence comes in unexpected sources and in surprising ways. And may this be a place where no one suffers alone but where each tear finds a home in the heart of another. You are making all things new and, with your vision before us, we will give shape to our priorities and efforts as a community.

"Tabitha, Get Up!" based on Acts 9:36-43

The United Methodist Women of the church where I grew up had three or four circles named after women in the Bible. Dorcas was one of them. I didn’t know who Dorcas was at the time, but now I see that the name aptly described the kind of women who made up that circle. This woman called Dorcas was “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” All of us probably knows at least one such woman; strong, compassionate and caring – the kind the church depends upon to keep things going. Like Marmee in Little Women, she provides food and clothing to the poor and sick in her community. Like Dorothy Day she is bold enough to invite the poor into her own dwelling, and to speak out in society, raising questions about the circumstances that lead to such poverty. She’s the one who organizes the baby showers for the new mothers. She knits prayer shawls, and makes beanbags to sooth aching muscles, and makes up boxes of cookies to mail to the college students on Valentine’s Day. She collects money for blankets and prepares the fellowship meals, which serve to knit the community of the church together. She stops to visit the lonely, sends cards, or calls regularly on the phone making sure they know that they are loved and appreciated.

The name Dorcas in Greek, and Tabitha in Aramaic, means gazelle. And like a gazelle Tabitha must have moved quickly, able to multi task. Like gazelles, Tabitha did not try to live alone, but made her home in her community, becoming an integral strand in the fabric.

So this story starts out with a very familiar character in the church. And when Tabitha suddenly became ill and died we aren’t too surprised, for we all have been part of that scene too. When one of our number becomes ill and dies we band together, offer soups and casseroles. Somebody calls the minister. We see that the body of the one we love is washed and prepared for burial, and we gather to remember all that he or she has meant to us. When Peter, who was nearby, heard what had happened to this sister disciple he made his way to Joppa. The congregation led him to the room where Tabitha was laid out, and they told stories through their tears of how much this woman had meant to them. They had even brought samples of her fine handiwork to show.

But then the unusual happened. Rather than launching into the funeral service, Peter asks all of the people to leave the room. Then he knelt down to pray. Upon feeling the assurance from God that Tabitha’s life would be restored he said to the body, “Tabitha, get up.” And miraculously she opened he eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up! He gave her his hand an helped her up and then called the congregation, the widows and other saints there and presented her to be alive.

This is a fitting story of resurrection for this season of Easter. It shows that not only Jesus Christ, but others, through his power, can be brought back to life from death. Tabitha can be numbered along with Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter as one who had her life restored. When we imagine being part of her community, we look at Tabitha with astonishment and praise God for such a blessing. Hallelujah.

Yet the story is also disturbing. For if a pastor can raise Tabitha from the dead through prayer in Jesus’ name, why is it that so many of the equally faithful, strong, compassionate and caring members of the Dorcas circle of Cicero UMC have died and been buried? Why have we at Wesley had to say farewell to our beloved sisters Joan and Isabelle in recent months? And even though Mildred lived well beyond 100, even she eventually had to face death as well. As a pastor, stories of resurrection in this life are disturbing because I have never dared to do what Peter did. Surely it would be cruel to tell a person or their loved ones only to believe and God will definitely grant their desire to live on in this world. What if I raised someone’s hopes and they were then not met? When I was being trained in pastoral care I was taught to be good listeners, to help people be at peace with mortality, and trust that God was as much with them in death as in life, but we were not coached to pray like Peter, for the dead to return to life.

But I have heard stories of some, who like Tabitha, have returned from the dead; or as we sometimes call it, they had “near death experiences.” In the early days of Camp Farthest Out the founder Glenn Clark, and some of the other leaders, like Agnes Sanford, were well known for the effectiveness of their prayers for healing. I have been told that when Agnes was scheduled to speak at a camp the leaders had to keep it a secret, otherwise multitudes would flock there just to be healed and the camp would be greatly disrupted. It seems good to me to read their books more carefully, and follow the methods of prayer, which worked for them. It seems good to me that we are spending some weeks together studying healing in Bible study.

But even Sanford has said that, “it is not the duty of every Christian to pray for everyone. Our prayers will help some and will not help others, for reasons beyond our understanding or control. Only the Holy Spirit can safely direct our healing power.” And healing is a spiritual gift, given more generously to some than to the rest of us. Furthermore, the healing flows through different people in different ways. Peter was able to pray and say “Tabitha, get up!” and she was made well. Tabitha’s method of healing, however, was in her constant, tireless caring for others in the community.

The last part of today’s scripture gives me some insight into the raising of Tabitha. After Peter called the congregation and showed Tabitha to be alive, the miracle became known throughout the town and many believed in the Lord. You see, raising a dead person to life, or any other kind of miraculous healing is not an end to itself. It is a means to God’s greater purpose of drawing others into relationship with him. In the case of the people of Joppa, folks were drawn to faith through hearing that this good, strong, compassionate woman who had done so much for the community had been given new life through the power of the risen Lord. In other times and places people have been drawn to faith in Jesus through the dignified life and peaceful and death of a believer like Mildred Buck, and in yet other times and places people have been drawn into the folds of the church through the witness of those who have died as martyrs in Jesus’ name.

Our very life is a gift from God, and it’s ultimate purpose is to give glory to God – in our living and in our dying; at times when miracles occur, and in our ordinary everyday good works and charity. As we turn to a time of prayer let us open ourselves to being a channel of healing for others, and a recipient of healing ourselves. And in all may we give God the glory and praise.

Agnes Sanford, The Healing Light, McAlister Park; St. Paul, 1947. p. 105